Olympic gold medallist Elinor Barker and her teammate Emily Nelson took an historic silver medal on day four of the Track World Championships 2017, finishing runners up to Belgian pair Lottie Kopecky and Jolien D’Hoore.

Belgium took the gold and the rainbow bands after finishing 10 points ahead of GB, with 44 to Barker and Nelson’s 34. Australia finished third despite suffering a crash during the 30km (120 laps) race.

“I was nervous because we’d only ridden one each before, we didn’t know what to expect,” Barker told BBC Sport on riding the madison.

“I’m not surprised at all by the Belgians wining,” she added, “they are a madison nation, so hats off to them, they were impressive.”

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for young sprinter Ryan Owens in the men’s sprint, as he lost out on a bronze medal, losing 2-0 to New Zealand’s Ethan Mitchell. Owens claimed fourth place on his debut in the World Championships.

Chris Latham was also unable to make an impact on the men’s omnium, with France’s Benjamin Thomas narrowly winning his first world title ahead of former champion Aaron Gate of New Zealand in the final points race of the competition.

Earlier in the day, Katie Archibald missed out on a place in the finals of the individual pursuit by 0.258 seconds, which was eventually won by the talented young American rider Chloe Dygert, who took her second world title in these championships after victory with her country in the team pursuit.

“I don’t feel fantastic, I woke up in agony. Maybe I would have slept better if I hadn’t had so many messages,” Archibald told BBC Sport

“I thought I could still give it a good go but I’m pretty disappointed and a bit embarrassed if I’m honest, I put in a lot of work.

“On paper it looks like I’ve not moved on in two years, so I don’t feel so good about that. But it’s amazing to have won the omnium world title.”

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